Emily is a PDO at the Garden Office. She is a sophomore from NYU Steinhardt studying nutrition and dietetics with aspirations to become a sports dietician. At NYU, she worked as a front office desk employee for NYU IT where she learned the value of collaboration and staying level-headed in whatever situation the day might throw at her! As a PDO for the Garden Office she will work to increase student involvement in the garden and help visitors appreciate the techniques and maintenance of the Garden office. She is also excited to gain hands-on experience in the garden and getting to learn about NYU’s no-dig approach. She is an active person, who loves running, walking, and pilates! Alongside that, she never neglects nutrition and emphasizes a strong balanced diet in her everyday life. As a proud New Yorker from Brooklyn, she chose to come to Florence to immerse herself in Italian culture and the rich city that was home to the Renaissance. As chill as a polar bear, nothing can phase her here in Firenze!

Solana is a PDO at the Office of Student Life. She is a Freshman Liberal Studies student who hopes to pursue economics in her academic studies. Having been born and spent her early years in the U.S., she moved to Morocco when she was 13. Solana has experienced a wide variety of cultures and diverse perspectives and has worked in a leadership role as a camp counselor for 5 years, as community outreach president at her high school, and as social media manager of her high school soccer team. She brings her experience with teamwork and her sensitivity to making sure everyone is included in her work on collaborative projects with her peers.  She hopes to apply her social media skills to her projects at the OSL where she will be video editing and creating digital flyers. As a PDO, she will update Infoportal resources, general resources for the OSL, and create orientation materials, alongside leading events and experiences for students all over campus. In her free time, she loves to watch films, sing, and play her guitar. Like a jellyfish, she likes to find the mystery, beauty, and variety of the city around her. If you see her around campus, make sure to say "Hello!" as she’s always happy to meet someone new.

Jenny is a PDO for the Creative Media Lab. Jenny is a Liberal Studies freshman from Shanghai, China, who dreams of working in film and entertainment.  In high school, Jenny was a production stage manager for three years straight, alongside working as an English tutor for other students. As a PDO for the Creative Media Lab, she brings her strong aesthetic sense and her video and photo production skills. She wants to learn to work with more sophisticated equipment. While doing so, she will be producing content for NYU Florence social media pages, more specifically, weekly Instagram stories. In her free time, she likes to ski, explore, listen to music, do photography, and try new foods.  Jenny doesn’t like eggplants though, and, admittedly, Jenny is afraid of all other animals, except humankind. But to be fair, why would she want to be anyone but herself!

Chloe is a PDO for the Creative Media Lab. She is a Junior from studying economics and Italian in Global Liberal Studies. Chloe is from New York City, but she isn’t new to Florence at all. As a matter of fact, she isn’t new to being a PDO either! In Spring of her freshman year, Chloe was a PDO for the Creative Media Lab where she oversaw the NYU Florence Radio Station, an experience she cherishes as it was her first time in a professional setting where she contributed to a project that she was passionate about. Skills she gained from and hopes to use once more in her PDO position are her sense of responsibility, timeliness, and her technical Adobe Creative Cloud skills. As a Florence Underground Radio Coordinator PDO, she will assist the creation of audio content for broadcast, alongside post-production on interviews with past DJs. She hopes to further develop her project management skills, team coordination, and task delegation during her term. Aside from working and studying, Chloe loves cooking, sailing, hiking, skiing, and drawing, but, more importantly, and, more than anything, Chloe values education and believes formal education should be more accessible, diverse, and critical as there is nothing more beautiful than nourishing both the mind and soul. She dreams of creating her own nature-based accessible academically rigorous primary school. 

Will is a PDO as a Career and Entrepreneurship Mentor in collaboration with the Wasserman Center in New York. He is a senior studying real estate at the NYU School of Professional Studies, who hopes to become a real estate investor in the future. He has worked in multiple real estate finance companies and took a gap year where he worked as a realtor and sold over $6 million in property. As a PDO, he hopes to learn more about career resources at NYU and to help other students with their future career opportunities by connecting them to Wasserman resources. In his free time, you can find him trying new foods, going on adventures like skydiving and parasailing, and working out. To Will, home is the Vermont wilderness, gazing at the stars, but he is thoroughly enjoying Florence so far. And, like Alexander the Great, you can tell his greatness is earned, not found.

Kennedy is a PDO for Villa La Pietra. She is a freshman in the Liberal Studies program. She has worked at a daycare for five years and has also worked in the fashion industry! These experiences are where she learned to value communication, responsibility, and interdependence. She also values the simple, yet significant virtue of staying courageous and being kind. As a PDO for Villa La Pietra, she hopes to use these skills as she gives tours to visitors and to collaborate with her fellow PDOs on the La Pietra collection database. Coming from Wiscasset, Maine, she chose to come to Florence as a born-traveller and lover of art and history. Kennedy is a Lego enthusiast who loves reading, and she has enjoyed walking around and exploring Florence so far. She is ready to hop around obstacles thrown at her, and, as a cherry on top, she grew up with bunnies!

Esther is a PDO for the Office of Academic Support. She is a Freshman in the Liberal Studies program who intends to study International Relations. Esther has worked as a teaching assistant and has volunteered in professional settings on multiple occasions. She came to understand that collaborating with people from different backgrounds requires mutual respect and understanding. Her greatest strengths as a worker include her communication capabilities which she developed interviewing ambassadors from different countries and that is where Esther discovered her ability to nurture interesting conversation and ask creative questions. As a PDO for the Office of Academic Support, she will be tasked with writing biographies for other PDO students, writing feature articles regarding other students at NYU Florence, and organizing the Italian culture round table. As a PDO, she hopes to develop her writing skills and become more expressive in her writing style. In her free time, Esther loves to read and she actively looks forward to her next book. She dreams of working in a law firm where she can work to protect the rights of women all over the world. Esther is from Seoul, South Korea, and so far in Florence she is surprised by the slow tempo and tranquility of life in Florence, something she finds vastly different from her home, but she’s happily found her place in the city.

Annabel is a PDO for Villa La Pietra. She is a freshman in the Liberal Studies program. Home to her is Brooklyn, New York, where she plans to pursue a double major in art history and classics or foreign affairs, with a minor in Italian. Annabel’s interest for art and art history led her to apply for the PDO program at Villa La Pietra so she can learn more about the Acton collection through giving tours and assisting with the collection’s digitization project. Aside from art, she’s passionate about mock trial and the program at her high school where she learned to farm. Through her past working experiences she learned how to stay patient and solve problems in stressful situations. Just like her favorite character, Hermione Granger, Annabel loves to read; one of her favorite books is A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles which sends a message about learning to thrive in any environment and to make the most out of any circumstances. 

Ripper is a PDO for the Creative Media Lab. He is a junior at NYU Tisch studying film and television with aspirations of becoming a feature film director. He has a wide range of entertainment experience, from collaborating with other filmmakers on film shoots to being a magician’s assistant. The most important thing he learned is that  there is no better way to work than working together, something he hopes to live by during his time as a PDO. This semester, he will be contributing to the creation of content for NYU Florence’s social media pages, alongside maintaining and reviewing the lab’s equipment inventory. He also supports Tisch film and photography students with their classes and accessing resources in the lab. Ripper loves creating experiences for others, allowing them to enter into new worlds via storytelling, which is a reason he decided to become a Film and Television major. Ripper, coming from Las Vegas, decided to study abroad in Florence to learn more about himself as an individual through meeting new communities. And, like Spider-Man, you can find him slinging around campus, or even slinging up shots on the basketball court!

Cyrus is a PDO for Villa la Pietra. He is a freshman in the Liberal Studies program. To know Cyrus’ history, you have to know history because Cyrus’ greatest love is researching and discovering more and more about humanity’s past. During high school he volunteered at a small local house museum focusing on his community’s history from the 1880s-1930s where he gave tours and curated exhibits. He also volunteered at the African Paleosciences Lab at NYU during his last two years of high school where he studied ancient artifacts and worked on research projects such as studying the oldest ceremonial cremation ever. He hopes to refine the cataloguing and touring skills he is practicing as a PDO at Villa la Pietra, where he will be giving tours to visitors and assisting with La Pietra’s database project. Being born in New York City, he chose to experience his first year as a college student abroad to see more of what the world has to offer, and so far he is very excited to spend the next nine months in Firenze. A history buff at his core, Indiana Jones has got nothing on him! 

Terry is a PDO for the Garden Office. He is a junior from NYU Shanghai studying math and economics. From something that started off as a household chore, taking careful care of plants and living things has grown into a lifelong passion. He started learning the basics of gardening such as planting, watering, weeding, and pruning in his family garden in Beijing. Through years of dedication, he has come to understand the incredibly important skills of consistency and patience, as the nature of plants requires attention to minute details on a daily basis. Terry has learned more about the challenges that farmers face in the Chinese agricultural industry and this has also given him a newfound appreciation for the land and soil. Inspired by his family to follow his curiosity and explore outside of his comfort zone, Terry applied to be a PDO at the Garden Office at La Pietra, where he hopes to learn more about Mediterranean plants and Italian gardening traditions. As a PDO he will work to increase student involvement in the garden and help all visitors appreciate the no-dig approach adopted by the garden office. In his free time, he loves skiing, hiking, and learning. His curiosity is one of the reasons why in the future he would love to become a university professor! And if you didn’t think he loved the natural world enough, he had adopted 7 cats and a dog as well!

Munem is a PDO for the Office of Academic Support. He is a sophomore studying economics and journalism with a minor in business of entertainment, media, and technology. Munem has worked for NYU before at the Office of University Events as a distribution coordinator during Grad Alley, where he oversaw the distribution of attire, merchandise, and certificates for all graduating students. Here he learned the importance of paying attention to detail and rechecking your work, even in a chaotic environment. He’s also worked as an employee at an ice cream shop which developed his grit and work ethic, alongside an ability to interact with customers and to appreciate his coworkers. He was also once a newspaper editor at his high school, where he exercised his writing and editing capabilities. As a PDO, he hopes to utilize all these skills when interacting with fellow PDOs, leading events, or interviewing people across campus. For the Office of Academic Support, he will be tasked with writing biographies for other PDO students, writing feature articles highlighting student community engagement at NYU Florence, and organizing the Italian culture round table. In his free time, Munem likes to read and collect comic books, and also, as a proud New Yorker, watch any Giants, Knicks, or Yankees game. Munem also likes biking, especially after getting into a bike accident, because if he doesn’t get back up to ride, the only other option to him is death. 

Jacqueline is a PDO at the Office of Student Life. She is a junior majoring in sociology and global liberal studies, with a minor in Italian. Jacqueline is from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, but that doesn’t mean she’s new to Florence or Italy. She attended NYU Florence her freshman year and was also raised in a half-Italian, half-Swiss family. Jacqueline loves creating connections with new people, a skill she has developed through volunteering and early work experiences with children and in customer service. She has worked as a gymnastics coach for kids and has led small group activities for children in Florence and the Dominican Republic. She has also worked with customers at a small concept store, as well as interned for a judge where she learned how a courthouse operates. These experiences taught her the virtue of patience, attention to detail, and how to take responsibility as a leader. At NYU she created the Italian Club where she shares her love of the language and culture with other students. In the OSL she is working on projects to enhance student engagement across campus and would like to learn more about the logistics of event planning. She loves meeting new people, so if you see her around  campus don’t be afraid to say hello, and you can do so in English, Italian, Spanish or French, as Jacqueline speaks 4 languages!